Salesforce.org Int’l Development Partnership – Karibu Centre, Kenya

I’d like to introduce you to the Karibu Centre, in Thika, Kenya, a Salesforce.org international development partner who we connect the global Salesforce employee volunteer community with.

The Karibu Centre is a project of Kidspire, an international organization whose mission is to serve the needs of marginalized children coming from slum areas. Karibu’s key programs focus on giving vulnerable children protection through the provision of education, prevention of abandonment, and reinforcing community support by engaging with their parents and local families.

It started with the story of its founder Jorie Kincaid, born to an unmarried teenager unable to provide for her. From the story of one young orphan girl an international collaboration was born.

The centre is located in Thika which is the third largest city in Kenya and a bedroom community of Nairobi. Nairobi is the tech hub of East Africa and home to many multi-national companies.

While the Karibu Centre is focused primarily on educational programs for vulnerable children, they uniquely choose to operate as a social enterprise. Income generating projects are a significant focus and revenue is reinvested back into Education, Child Protection & Community Outreach programs.

How the Business Community can make a Difference

In addition to social enterprise and sustainability, the Karibu Centre is putting a big bet on technology programming as a way to differentiate themselves from mainstream educational organizations. The centre offers daily STEAM clubs together with pre-school education. The business community has the opportunity to partner with the NGO sector in many ways starting through knowledge sharing and capacity building efforts. Business professionals can contribute by offering sales & marketing expertise, tech support, youth mentorship, career training and helping Karibu streamline operations.

When it comes to STEAM education, tech professional can provide valuable career guidance, foster critical thinking, expose children to new technology and encourage a young generation of innovators.

Salesforce Support

The Karibu Centre has hosted a number of Salesforce employees, who have come to volunteer with educational programs and have supported the implementation of the Salesforce platform.

The STEAM club activities have been particularly interesting because they enable volunteers to use their skill-set on digital and coding activities as well as more hands-on support on the current hardware management.

Through the Social Enterprise model, staff can use their business acumen and put to good use sales and marketing skills, with the goal of enabling the centre to become a self-sustainable centre of excellence which can pave the way for more organizations to follow its lead.

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